Intelligence agencies adapt to new threats, challenges

A clandestine agency by nature, the CIA has been shrouded in mystery and hidden from the public under the guise of national security. Its successes are rarely recognized because it keeps our lives normal, while its failures have reached international attention.

The Richard Nixon Foundation in Yorba Linda hosted a forum on Jan. 29 for young journalists in the Orange County area that relayed the process of how CIA analysts and operatives processed the intelligence they gathered. Andrew Liepman, former deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Charles E. Allen, former undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, did not hesitate to discuss the gaps in CIA policy, which were mainly domestic oversights in security.

Events such as the tragedy of Sept. 11 and acts of domestic terrorism have highlighted flaws in the CIA's system.

"We had a domestic infrastructure, we had a foreign infrastructure, and they got along OK, but they really didn't share much information," Liepman said. "After 9/11, we discovered that the CIA had some data and the FBI had some data, and if we'd mixed them, we would've been able to find a couple of these guys."

Allen commented that "national security changed in (the face) of 9/11." He explained how terrorists exploited weaknesses within the United States, as our focus was mainly overseas dealing with the growing problem of communism in Europe and Asia.

After 9/11, the CIA underwent immense change to patch the loopholes in safety on the home front. The National Counterterrorism Center was established by Executive Order 13354 in August 2004 as an attempt to bring interagency cooperation to new heights.

The CIA went to greater lengths to ensure that state and local governments were apprised of information pertinent to their constituents' safety. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States, or the 9/11 Commission, was formed to ensure that past mistakes would not be repeated.

Since 9/11, the CIA has attempted to improve the public's view of the government's most covert agency.

"We're not James Bond, but we certainly do a lot of astonishing things in a lot of ways," Allen said. Much of the work the CIA does goes unrecognized, since the information it gathers cannot always be released to the public. However, Liepman stated that "we must ensure we do a good job and build trust in the people."

As they try to eradicate the threats to national security, the CIA will continue working behind the scenes to ensure our country's safety on a daily basis.

– Nicole Tyau is a senior at Yorba Linda High School. She has been the editor-in-chief of the school's newspaper, the Wrangler, since its debut in 2009.